Bremerton Culinary Artists Showcase their Skill at Armed Forces Competition

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class (SW) Charlemagne Obana, Naval Hospital Bremerton Public Affairs

BREMERTON, Wash. (NNS) -- Naval Hospital Bremerton (NHB) food service Sailors and civilian staff competed May 12 at the 2012 Armed Forces Day military culinary arts competition.

The event was hosted by Naval Base Kitsap (NBK) at the Olympic College student center.

"It was very tough to judge this event. They were all outstanding and represent the best of the best that the Navy and the military offers," said special guest and judge from Washington D.C., Karin George, program manager food service ashore and retired Navy chef. "This was a wonderful opportunity to showcase their skills and I never experienced anything like this when I was in the Navy."

The competition which originated 20 years ago as a chili cook-off between the area's Navy cooks has blossomed into a competition with representatives coming from throughout the greater Puget Sound area such as Joint Base Lewis-McCord, NBK, Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Naval Hospital Bremerton, Naval Base Everett, and various ships in the Northwest Navy region.

"It really raises your opinion of the kind of chefs the Navy and the military has...these guys have skills," said Steve Zugschwerdt, freelance photographer and competition attendee.

NHB combined food services staff began their food preparations two days prior to the event and presented the most entries into the competition.

"Our strategy is to just do our best and to represent our command," said Culinary Specialist 1st Class (SW) Arturo Perez, NHB combined food services leading petty officer. "We tried to use the same winning recipes from last year until somebody beats us in that category. The main difference [this year] is in our presentation."

The categories for competition included garnish, chili, appetizer, pie, cake, ribs, wings, and the iron chef cook-off.

"There was no 'I' or 'my' product. Everyone had a hand in each item. We were very critical with each of our entries," said Chief Culinary Specialist (SW/AW) Renee Aquino, NHB Combined Food Service leading chief petty 0fficer.

"I think our entries in this competition are phenomenal," said NHB Command Master Chief Frank Dominguez. "They really hit a homerun with the ribs and the cake."

The efforts of the hospital Terrace Dining Room staff were rewarded with first place awards for both the cake and rib category, second place awards in chili and wings, another third place award for their rib entry, and a second overall award for the second consecutive year. According to command staff members who attended the event, the real winners of the competition are always the patrons of NHB Terrace Dining Room.

"Some of the products we prepare for competition make it on our menu at the hospital," said Aquino. "The sushi that won last year we served as part of our healthy menu during our nutrition month celebration."

The NHB galley began instituting healthier menu items in early 2011 according to Aquino.

"We took away serving hamburgers and fries everyday even though people liked it. We try to set their mind on something else [healthier for them]. We serve whole wheat pasta, brown rice, tofu dishes, and we serve a lot of fish on our menu during the week," said Perez.

"I'd like to see a healthy choice category for next year's competition. We could teach a lot of people that healthy food also tastes good."

"I think we would probably ace that category," said Aquino. "We serve a grilled crusted mahi-mahi [here], all we have to do is make a good sauce to go with it."

Culinary Specialists Go to Battlestations in Fleet Week Galley Wars

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class (SW) Greg Johnson, Commander, Navy Region Southeast Public Affairs

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (NNS) -- More than 30 culinary specialists assigned to ships participating in Fleet Week Port Everglades 2012 competed in Galley Wars April 28 at Hugh's Culinary in Oakland Park, Fla.

The event was designed to test the kitchen skills of participants and recognize their superior talents in the field of culinary arts through a fast-paced cooking competition, an event Hugh's Culinary owner and event organizer Hugh McCauley said is intended to bring the military and civilian communities closer together.

"Our main goal is to promote some camaraderie between the military and the community," he said. "We all enjoy the opportunity to interact with each other and mingle and this event is a great way to do that."

The competition featured one team from each ship, including the multi-purpose amphibious assault Ship USS Wasp (LHD 1), the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile destroyers USS San Jacinto (CG 56) and USS Gettysburg (CG 64), the Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate USS DeWert (FFG 45), the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Bernard C. Webber and the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Dallas (SSN 700). Each team had one hour to prepare two identical platters composed of several courses with at least one of those dishes including the secret ingredient - swordfish.

"It's one of those things you can't really prepare for," said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class Curtis Pacheco of Wasp. "You don't really know what you'll be working with until you get there. It was the first time I had done something like this and it was really fun," said Pacheco. "There was definitely a lot of competitiveness in the kitchen between the ships."

"Every participant from the ship has to bring their A-game to succeed here," McCauley said. "It's always a challenge, but they always bring their individual expertise and pull together a team effort to overcome a difficult environment."

Once the dishes were plated, they were judged by five celebrity judges. This year's Judges Choice Award winner was Dallas and the Audience Favorite Award winner was Bernard C. Webber.

However, winning and losing were not the most important aspect of the event, said Culinary Specialist 2nd Class (SS) Josue Ramirez, a culinary specialist assigned to Dallas.

"They all had great attitudes and teamwork," he said. "They were really some of the best cooks in the Navy and it was a great experience to compete against them and learn from each other."

According to McCauley, the competition was fierce and it was extremely difficult to choose a winner.

"All the teams were really close and they all did a great job at using their experience. Every one of them did a superb job with the secret ingredient and every team put forth a tremendous effort. All of them should be proud," he said.

The Navy's more than 7,000 culinary specialists (CS), deployed around the globe, feed on average more than 92 million wholesome and nutritious meals per year, ensuring the Navy's fighting forces operate at peak performance and are ready to respond to threats worldwide. Navy commanding officers agree that nothing impacts Sailors on a day-to-day basis more than the food CSs prepare for them; they believe these top quality meals contribute directly to Sailor quality of life and morale. Today's CSs have greater culinary instruction than ever before. With even more advanced training on the way. Sailors, both afloat and ashore, can look forward to even healthier and better-tasting meals in the near future.

Four U.S. Navy ships, a submarine and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter are participating in Fleet Week Port Everglades 2012, an event designed to showcase the investment Americans have made in their Navy and increase awareness in cities that do not have a significant Navy presence.

Culinary Specialists Serve Up Health to the 21st Century Sailor

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alexandra Snyder, Defense Media Activity Pentagon Bureau, Navy

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md (NNS) -- Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) culinary specialists (CSs) from around the fleet showcased a wide variety of healthy and delectable dishes during several cooking demonstrations at the 2012 Sea-Air-Space Exposition in National Harbor, Md. April 17.

"We're trying to achieve healthy meals for the Sailor of the 21st century," said Cmdr. Danny King, Naval Supply System Command Navy Food Service director. "We want to feed our Sailors healthy, nutritious food that's of a great quality, and that's what is being demonstrated [with these demos]."

"Today's CSs have greater culinary instruction than ever before," said Commander, Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) and Chief of Supply Corps Rear Adm. Mark F. Heinrich. "With even more advanced training on the way, Sailors, both afloat and ashore, can look forward to even healthier and better-tasting meals in the near future."

Heinrich also emphasized "over-the-shoulder" training by senior CSs to junior CSs and the deployment more senior CSs to ships. "We're going to place a greater emphasis on over-the-shoulder training to maintain and increase culinary specialist skills, to maintain proficiency," Heinrich said. "Khaki leadership is key."

Chiefs oversaw and offered input to junior Sailors cooking meals such as peppercorn steak stir-fry and bacon-wrapped chicken with greens.

"It's a good time to be a CS in the Navy," said Senior Chief Culinary Specialist Nathan Jiggetts, senior instructor, Navy Food Management Team Norfolk. "We're now putting out healthier, cooked-from-scratch food to our Sailors, because healthy food means a healthy Navy. Not only that, but by creating homemade dishes, our CSs will be more equipped to be successful in their culinary careers when they leave the service."

Some of the initiatives being spearheaded by NAVSUP to help further facilitate this type of further career training include: benchmarking CSs against industry standards for culinary certification, revitalizing a hotel internship program in fleet concentration areas to pair CSs with top hotel chefs, as well as working to establish partnerships with culinary schools in fleet concentration areas. The command is also developing new recipe cards that provide step-by-step scratch cooking preparation instructions with graphic images detailing the steps of recipe production to decrease errors in food preparation and provide a better foundation for improving culinary training.

Other areas of emphasis include increasing the percentage of scratch food on carrier up to 40 percent and enabling greater fleet control and input with menu control.

"Nothing impacts Sailors on a day-to-day basis more than the food CSs prepare for them," Heinrich said. "CSs need to learn to prepare meals, not assemble them. We're embarking right now on a plan to see that our CSs can produce meals that match right up with the top chefs."

The Navy League's Sea-Air-Space Exposition is three days of seminars and demonstrations highlighting the latest maritime-related technologies and solutions. The symposium provides an excellent opportunity for Navy policy and operational leadership to interact with industry representatives to discuss and debate common interests and concerns.

NAVSUP Serves Up Excellence at Sea Air Space Expo 2012

From NAVSUP Corporate Communications

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md, (NNS) -- Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) demonstrated one of its top quality-of-life responsibilities at the Navy League's annual Sea-Air-Space Expo, which runs April 16-18.

Through food cooking and preparation demonstrations, Navy culinary specialists (CSs) worked together to serve samplings of a variety of dishes, ranging from chicken saltimbocca with mushroom asparagus and herb linguini to oriental pepper steak to country collard greens.

CSs who took top awards at the March 2012 Annual Military Culinary Arts Competition in Fort Lee, Va.- the largest culinary competition in North America-brought their award-winning dishes back for an encore presentation at the symposium.

"It's great to be able to go to a show like this and meet some of the young enlisted men and woman who are responsible for providing the quality of life afloat and ashore in these expeditionary environments that our Sailors need to be effective. They provide day to day warfighting readiness through their skills," said NAVSUP Commander and Chief of Supply Corps Rear Adm. Mark Heinrich.

"It's an honor and a blessing to be here," said Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Cameron Johnson, currently stationed at Naval Station Norfolk Galley. "A lot of people don't get an opportunity to do something like this and I'm proud to be here for the Navy and representing my culinary team. I love being a CS and cooking for others."

NAVSUP's exhibit features five daily cooking demonstrations, accompanied by twice-daily educational sessions on the Navy Operational Fitness and Fueling Series (NOFFS) by NAVSUP Nutrition Program Manager and Registered Dietician Jennifer Person-Whippo.

"Healthy and nutritious meals made from scratch that are also great tasting...that's what's going to fuel our Sailors out at sea and keep them motivated and keep them going," said Cmdr. Danny King, Navy Food Service director for NAVSUP. "This Expo is a great opportunity to show off the combination of our registered dietician, our corporate chef, representatives from our Navy Food Management Teams, and our CSs...it's bringing all the great roles together."

"I think this Expo is a great opportunity to introduce people to the Operational Fueling and Fitness Program," said Person-Whippo. "The fueling program gives service members knowledge on portion size, which foods they should eat, and actually designs a program for them according to their weight and their goals."

"We're really excited to be able to provide this kind of information at this year's Sea-Air-Space Expo," said NAVSUP Corporate Chef Michael Harants. "There are more than 7,300 CSs throughout the Navy and CSs deployed around the globe feed on average more than 92.5 million wholesome and nutritious meals per year, ensuring the Navy's fighting forces operate at peak performance and are ready to respond to threats worldwide. CSs have a huge impact every day. This is a big responsibility and we are very proud to provide support and manage the Navy's food service."

The Navy League holds its annual Sea-Air-Space (SAS) Exposition April 16-18, at the Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. As the largest maritime symposium in the world, SAS attracts approximately 10,000 attendees. It features more than 150 defense industry exhibits and professional seminars with top civilian and military leaders from the U.S. Department of Defense, Homeland Security, Maritime Administration and the defense industry who provide up-to-the-minute developments on policy and programs of the maritime services.

NAVSUP's primary mission is to provide U.S. naval forces with quality supplies and services. With headquarters in Mechanicsburg, Pa., and employing a diverse, worldwide workforce of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel, NAVSUP oversees logistics programs in the areas of supply operations, conventional ordnance, contracting, resale, fuel, transportation, and security assistance. In addition, NAVSUP is responsible for quality of life issues for our naval forces, including food service, postal services, Navy Exchanges, and movement of household goods.

USS California Culinary Specialist Learns California Cuisine from Five-Star Chef

By Lt. Cmdr. Jennifer Cragg, Commander, Submarine Group 2 Public Affairs

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (NNS) -- A USS California (SSN 781) culinary specialist participated in an once-in-a-lifetime cooking experience during a one-week understudy here, beginning Feb. 4.

The week-long culinary understudy at the Crowne Plaza Hotel was provided by the Santa Barbara Navy League. Culinary Specialist Seaman Apprentice Justin Cramer, of Moore, Okla., reflected on this opportunity to expound on his skills and how the training will benefit the boat's crew.

"This opportunity presents overwhelming joy to me," said Cramer. "I was speechless when I found out and for me it was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I never imagined I would participate in something like this when I joined the U.S. Navy."

Patricia Westberg, vice president, Santa Barbara Navy League reflected on this opportunity for the young chef.

"The Santa Barbara Navy League is honored to have CSSN Justin Cramer visit Santa Barbara and we hope that through his California cuisine training at the Crowne Plaza, he will be able to create a west coast climate on board the boat through menu planning and selections, so the crew will have a taste of our great state several times a month," said Westberg.

Executive Chef Luis Martinez will teach Cramer a variety of cooking-related skill sets, such as culinary arts and advanced food preparation.

"For the next three years I will have the opportunity to apply what I learned in Santa Barbara, bringing back valuable skills to benefit myself and my boat," said Cramer.

Cramer joined the Navy at the age of 23 in January 2011. He chose the culinary specialist rating from years of experience watching his parents enjoy the art of cooking.

"We have had a generation of five-star cooks in our family; it made sense for me to come into the U.S. Navy as a culinary specialist," said Cramer.

Lt. Angus McCallum, supply officer aboard USS California reflected on Cramer's selection.

"Seaman Cramer is going to be the bridge between the recently commissioned California and the Santa Barbara community," said McCallum. "With so much of the country between the boat and the city, this first opportunity forms a tangible bond between California and her home state."

McCallum added that Cramer is a valuable asset to their team. Despite being the most junior culinary specialist in California's Supply Department, Cramer was chosen to participate in the understudy based solely on his stellar performance since arriving aboard the newest Virginia-class attack submarine, said McCallum.

"After being on board for one month, Cramer qualified in all culinary specialist watch stations, which led to the selection as the culinary specialist of the fourth quarter in 2011," said McCallum.